Practical Sailing & Safety Skills

This unit builds hands-on seamanship and safety abilities for small sailboats, covering rigging, sail handling, basic maneuvers, knots, anchoring, and emergency response. Students will practice navigation fundamentals (charts, compass, weather) and onboard procedures that prepare them for more advanced operational and instructional topics in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Demonstrate correct assembly and rigging of a small sailboat, including raising and shaping sails, adjusting controls, and executing basic steering and maneuvers (tack, jibe, dock) under instructor supervision
• Apply practical seamanship techniques to secure and operate a vessel: tie and use figure-eight and bowline knots, throw a line, handle a dinghy, and perform proper mooring and anchoring procedures
• Analyze weather reports, nautical charts, and compass bearings to plan a safe trip route and make informed go/no-go and in-voyage decisions, including responses to fog and changing wind conditions
• Evaluate and perform safety and emergency procedures including man-overboard recovery, hypothermia recognition and initial care, seasickness mitigation, use of foul-weather gear, and basic jury-rigging repairs